Britannia Club Accomodations (AA)?

[stugots]

I have seen AA stateroom Britannia Club listed, but I can find no information. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks.

[guernseyguy]

I have seen AA stateroom Britannia Club listed, but I can find no information. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks.

 

Cunard's Oct 06 - Apr 08 brochure lists them as 12 deck cabins 12012 - 12061. They are standard 'deluxe' balcony cabins - just high up, and forward, from 2 April 2007. Dining will be 'open' in an as yet to be designated area of the Britannia Dining Room.

 

Peter

[pepperrn]

Cunard's Oct 06 - Apr 08 brochure lists them as 12 deck cabins 12012 - 12061. From 2 April 2007. Dining will be 'open' in an as yet to be designated area of the Britannia Dining Room.

 

Peter

 

Peter, I wondered if they'd use the almost private areas (port and staboard) of the Britannia on deck 3 aft? I haven't done a "chair count" in these areas to see if there are enough if the whole of the AA grade passengers turn up at once! What do you think? Maybe my memory is at fault and these areas are too small. Please correct me if I'm dreaming these rooms up!

 

Thanks

[guernseyguy]

Peter, I wondered if they'd use the almost private areas (port and staboard) of the Britannia on deck 3 aft?

 

I dined there on my first night and it was dreadful! Right next to the servery (so at least the food was hot) but a constant parade of waiters charging about....and all the noise amplified by the low ceiling.......

 

Peter

[pepperrn]

I dined there on my first night and it was dreadful! Right next to the servery (so at least the food was hot) but a constant parade of waiters charging about....and all the noise amplified by the low ceiling.......

 

Peter

 

Peter, so that's a no then!:)

 

I will just have to wait and see and stop guessing!

 

Very best wishes

[guernseyguy]

Peter, so that's a no then!:)

 

Oh, I wouldn't count on it.....they need an area other passengers will not want to pass through.....with 46 cabins, so 92 pax - thats 20 - 25 tables with between 2 - 6 per table- or under half of one of the aft upper tiers.......

 

Peter

[pepperrn]

Oh, I wouldn't count on it.....they need an area other passengers will not want to pass through.....with 46 cabins, so 92 pax - thats 20 - 25 tables with between 2 - 6 per table- or under half of one of the aft upper tiers.......

 

Peter

 

Peter, I should of course have said deck 2 aft! :o Very sorry. I can't remember how many these areas would seat, I will do a chair count in September. I agree that they want an area that is easy to "rope off" which is why I humbly suggested these areas.

 

Please excuse my typos (I also wrote staboard not starboard! Duh).

 

Thanks for your speedy reply.

[guernseyguy]

Peter, I should of course have said deck 2 aft! .

 

Never dined there.....but that sounds nice & near the kitchens too....and well away from the lovely spacious central well - of course, they could simply give them the tables in the central area - but that would have pax tramping through all the time, and would leave it empty half the time. As the Irish would say 'If you want to get there, I wouldn't have started from here.....'

 

Peter

[travel-to-go]

Never dined there.....but that sounds nice & near the kitchens too....and well away from the lovely spacious central well - of course, they could simply give them the tables in the central area - but that would have pax tramping through all the time, and would leave it empty half the time. As the Irish would say 'If you want to get there, I wouldn't have started from here.....'

 

Peter

 

Maria and I both sat at (separate) tables near the rear section of Brittania Deck 2 aft. There is a sort of "half-wall" that separates it from the rest of the room, and I suspect they could put accordian pleated walls the rest of the way over to totally wall it off, if they REALLY wanted to make it more exclusive.

 

I have no doubt that they could also find a way to re-route the wait-staff traffic or create a sort of corridor if they wished, so as to not disturb the sanctity of the "middle-class" passengers <G>)

 

Karie,

Who thinks that "middle classed" has sudden taken on an entirely different meaning! If Princess and Queens Grill are 1st class, or 1st and second, then that would make Brittania 2nd or third class (can't use the dreaded "S" word) thus, another class in between would make then "Middle class" and the rest of us "Brits" (short for Brittanians <G>) 3rd or FOURTH class! Depending on how you look at it!

 

EGAD! I'm GOING PARCEL POST! <VBG>

 

(yep, I'm now going to start referring to those traveling in "Brittania class" as BRITS!

[guernseyguy]

(yep, I'm now going to start referring to those traveling in "Brittania class" as BRITS!

 

Ohh....go on.....call them 'STEERS'.....short for, well, you know......;)

 

Peter

[pepperrn]

Karie and Peter

 

"4th Class" or "Steers"?

 

Well either would apply I fear. Given that on my next crossing I'm in a B grade (deck 5), never before have I felt so far/low down the pecking order for so much money!

 

It is a source of wonder to me that Cunard can still get away with separate classes these days (even if they don't call them 1st and Cabin). I notice that on Queen Victoria they have increased the areas that Ist (ie Grills) can enjoy compared with QE2 and QM2. On top of their own lounge (2 on QM2 and a small deck area, and of course on QM2 9 and 10 are almost totally 1st class decks, on QE2 Ist class is spread around more) and resturants, they will enjoy larger private deck areas, a courtyard with an outdoor cafe with fountains, private boxes and lounge at the theatre. I have a feeling that, were Cunard to add to the fleet with another newbuild soon, you would see even larger areas of that ship out of bounds to the majority of passengers just as used to happen in the past.

 

It's interesting that originally Ist class used to pay a supplement to dine in the Grill rooms, someone made a decision in 1972 (when Queens Grill was added to QE2 and certain cabin grades were attached to that resturant) that had far reaching consequences. Maybe Cunard just couldn't face giving up the class structure.

[guernseyguy]

Maybe Cunard just couldn't face giving up the class structure.

 

When the QE2 was designed, she was planned as a 3 class ship - you can still see remnants of that today in the A, D and G stairtowers. However, with the improvement in '3rd' class faciliies - all en-suite cabins - the Brits argued that the 'middle class' 'Cabin' - could be got rid of - which the Yanks opposed. Once they worked out it would be cheaper to run a 2 class vessel, the desision to go two class was taken.

 

Even the Queen Vic is still a LONG way from class divided liners of old - she is really a 'one class' ship, with a small proportion reserved for the use of higher fare paying passengers - and if that improves yield (I heard once that one of the Queens' Grill suites pays for the ENTIRE World Cruise fuel bill) - so much the better.

 

Peter

 

Who is still amazed at how people who will fly across the Atlantic in 4th class (eg BA - First, Club, World Traveller Plus, World Traveller) which as it is next to the tail may appropriately be called steerage - and would risk getting shot (literally) by trying to get into the 'wrong' class - get worked up by a few bits of reserved deck space, or a different restaurant on a one class ship......

[wynkys]

Some months back, a Cunard representative in an interview with Cruise News Daily stated that those areas mentioned on Deck 2 aft are where the Britannia Club passengers will be seated.

 

Wayne

[pepperrn]

Some months back, a Cunard representative in an interview with Cruise News Daily stated that those areas mentioned on Deck 2 aft are where the Britannia Club passengers will be seated.

 

Wayne

 

Thanks Wayne, looks like my guess is right, I look forward to seeing the Club passengers arriving "mid" 1st seating and making their stately progress across the crowded Britannia Resturant to their own private bit of it. Echos of the 4 private dining rooms in the 1st class resturant on Queen Mary.

[mufi]

 

 

 

So why do so many pay so much (more) for so little and be happy to continue doing it? Beats me.

 

David.

[pepperrn]

When the QE2 was designed, she was planned as a 3 class ship However, the Brits argued that 'Cabin' - could be got rid of - which the Yanks opposed. Once they worked out it would be cheaper to run a 2 class vessel, the desision to go two class was taken.

 

I heard once that one of the Queens' Grill suites pays for the ENTIRE World Cruise fuel bill

 

Peter

 

Who is still amazed at how people who will fly across the Atlantic in 4th class (eg BA - First, Club, World Traveller Plus, World Traveller) which as it is next to the tail may appropriately be called steerage get worked up by a few bits of reserved deck space, or a different restaurant on a one class ship......

 

Thank you Peter for this.

 

My understanding, and please correct me if I've got it wrong, is that, in '66, with over half the hull built, the builders told Cunard that there would be a delay in completion. This gave some time to re-think the traditional 3 class structure. As you say, the thinking was that 2 class would make more money and avoid triplication of certain public rooms. For example, the 3 lounges one above the other for 1st cabin and tourist, were re-worked to give us the Queen's Room and the 2 floor Double Room above. Other duplicate rooms on Upper and Boat Decks were then, of course, not built. I wonder if they had looked at the 3 class Michelangelo and Raffaello or indeed France. Had the delay not happened she may have been a 3 class ship as well.

 

Can you tell me when they dropped 1st and Transatlantic classes for TA's? I've read that early cruises were also class separated, true?

 

I had not heard that one Queens Grill cabin paid for the fuel on a world cruise, amazing, wonder if it's still true!

 

I do hope that I didn't give the impression that I was "worked up" by the private deck areas or resturants of Cunard's Grill Class. It doesn't upset me at all. I am just very interested in the way that Cunard have managed to hang onto the class structure by renaming it! I would love to know what happened in 1972 when the Queens Grill was introduced. Did almost all the passengers in the very best cabins on the 2 Queens and QE2 eat in the grill resturants exclusively and that led them to assign certain cabins to the grills rather than use them as additional supplement alternatives to the 1st class resturant? Again, I find it interesting that on QM2 the Todd English is both physically positioned and used just as the Verandah Grills were intended to be used on the Queens, as a additional supplement alternative.

 

I'm not sure I agree with you about QM2 and QV being "one class" ships however. As QE2 is run now I can understand that there are separate dining rooms with differing standards of food presentaion and choice based on how much you've paid. I can even understand that there is one lounge for the use of the highest grade of cabins. But with QM2 this is taken a step further, 2 lounges and a small area of deck space. And now on QV this is expanded again with bigger private deck areas and the best seats in the theatre. And so we're back to 2 class ships. Now compared with the percentage of overall space that 1st class enjoyed on Normandie compared with the other classes, I agree it's very small on QV, but, give Cunard time (and another couple of ships!).

 

I understand the very good point you were making regarding 4 class airliners. We understand that we will spend a short time, mostly sat down, getting to our destination. It's a short time to put up with a little discomfort back in coach/economy (even airlines use fancy names for steerage "world traveller"). Somehow, maybe because of the duration of the flight, people accept the crush. But when the ship is your home from home, a destination in it's own right, some may ask why you can't enjoy all of it.

 

There will be a mix of passengers (business or vacation) on a TA by air. I don't know the percentage of passengers not travelling for pleasure/vacation on a TA by sea, but it must be very small. However, on a chartered holiday flight where almost everyone is travelling for pleasure, there will not normally be any class barriers on the aircraft. Some may ask why, on a holiday sailing, the same isn't true.

 

Very best wishes,

[guernseyguy]

I wonder if they had looked at the 3 class Michelangelo and Raffaello

 

I think the design of these ships was complicated by rigorous separation of the classes - which made them impossible to adapt to one class. IIRC they had been designed with the possibility of conversion to nuclear power - so were basically cut in half down the middle.

 

Can you tell me when they dropped 1st and Transatlantic classes for TA's? I've read that early cruises were also class separated, true?

 

Don't know when two class Transatlantics went, and have not heard that Cruises were two class - the intent was always one class cruising

 

I do hope that I didn't give the impression that I was "worked up" by the private deck areas or resturants of Cunard's Grill Class. It doesn't upset me at all.

 

Not you, at all - its the 'HOW DARE YOU CALL IT STEERAGE!!!!' crowd who seem to lack a sense of proportion.

 

I'm not sure I agree with you about QM2 and QV being "one class" ships however.

 

Compared to genuine 3 class ships - with different stair towers & public rooms, these are one class ships with a few lounges. If you look at the warren of corridors on a 3 class ship deck plan, you'll see the QV and QM2 are models of simplicity by comparison.

 

Peter

[pepperrn]

.

 

If you look at the warren of corridors on a 3 class ship deck plan, you'll see the QV and QM2 are models of simplicity by comparison.

 

Peter

 

Now there Peter I have to agree with you 100%

[pnhmrk]

Don't know when two class Transatlantics went, and have not heard that Cruises were two class - the intent was always one class cruising

 

She was still a 2 class ship for trans Atlantics when we first went on her - back in 1992. We were on a cruise, for that she was one class so we never saw the class division. The class division had gone by our second trip - in December of the same year.

[pepperrn]

She was still a 2 class ship for trans Atlantics when we first went on her - back in 1992. We were on a cruise, for that she was one class so we never saw the class division. The class division had gone by our second trip - in December of the same year.

 

Thank you pnhmrk for this, 1992 is much later than I had thought (I was thinking 1987 refit time). I did check the book that I had read (which could be wrong of course) and is does say that there were class barriers on the early cruises as well as TA. I also thought that the intention was to have one class cruises as Peter has pointed out.

 

Thanks and very best wishes.

[davyjones]

Peter, I wondered if they'd use the almost private areas (port and staboard) of the Britannia on deck 3 aft? I haven't done a "chair count" in these areas to see if there are enough if the whole of the AA grade passengers turn up at once! What do you think? Maybe my memory is at fault and these areas are too small. Please correct me if I'm dreaming these rooms up!

 

Thanks

 

The US Cunard 2007/8 brochure's deck plans shows the club dining areas to be as guessed by pepperrn. The UK 2007/8 brochure has different deck plans for levels 3/3L and no 2.